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Pipeline Engineering - Help

Version 4.9.0

PLE, an abbreviation of Pipeline Engineering, is a program for the analysis of the Strength, Strain, Stability and Safety (4S) of buried or partly buried transport pipelines both onland and offshore. The program can be used to perform the 4S analysis of various types of medium pipelines, such as petrochemical, chemical, and natural gas pipelines. It is also suitable for other gases or pressurised liquefied gases, potable water and sewage water, slurry pipelines, and various other similar applications.

Commonly used materials for pipeline construction can be applied (e.g. steel, plastics, concrete, cast iron) as well as continuous or articulated structural options. Construction phasing can be applied if the construction sequence is essential to the pipeline behaviour (e.g. preheating/pre stressing of "hot" pipelines).

As a result of the typical soft soil conditions in The Netherlands (e.g. sand, soft clay and peat), the development of the program is based on the interpretation of the pipeline as a geotechnical structure. Due to this approach the program is also applicable for pipelines in more rigid soil areas, such as the deserts of the Middle-East or padding soil filled rock trenches.

It is a tool for the pipeline design engineer as well as the design audit engineer, who design or evaluate the 4S behaviour of pipelines to meet safety requirements as they are specified in Pipelines Codes and Regulations. The pipeline may be a high or low-pressure transmission or distribution pipeline, or a high pressure trunk line.

The program in its previous version (PLE-micro-CAD) is formally approved by Dutch authorities for pipelines that have to be licensed according to the Dutch Pipeline Code (NEN 3650/51 series), but as the analysis method is based on commonly applied mechanics and only optional results are evaluated on specific Codes, the program is generally applicable under a variety of foreign Codes as has been shown in the past. As such the program is used in Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Israel and USA.

An educational version is available to download, it is a free to use, somewhat limited version of the full professional version. You are encouraged to use and distribute this program. With the educational version pipeline configurations can be analysed, because the common analysis method is included. Only certain options, as described, are disabled.

A reader licence of PLE is also available. PLE Reader provides users with access to the powerful features of the PLE software for pipeline engineering analysis, without the ability to make changes to input data or perform simulations. This licence is a suitable solution for licensing authorities and other engineering companies that need to check and validate PLE projects.

For more information about PLE, please see the detailed program description.

We appreciate any feedback about what you like or dislike in this new version, any errors or omissions found etc.. To do this, you can contact us or visit the PLE forum.

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